Archos picks a new CEO, ships 80 and 97 Titanium tablets to the US

Archos has been going through some tough times lately, having to reorganize and lay off a quarter of its staff toward the end of last year. You could say that the company is using the spring as a chance for renewal: company Chairman Henri Crohas has picked Deputy CEO Loïc Poirier to replace him in the full CEO position as of May 1st. Poirier's main focus will be on finishing the work that started in 2012, which should concentrate Archos' efforts on its signature tablet business as well as ventures into home automation and smartphones.

As if to mark its potential comeback, the company is catering to Americans by shipping its 80 Titanium and 97 Titanium tablets their way alongside the already mentioned GamePad. The 8- and 9.7-inch slates are selling for $169 and $249, with screen size the real differentiatior -- both run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on top of a dual-core 1.6GHz processor and an IPS-based LCD. They won't give a Nexus 10 owner second thoughts, but they include a fair amount of bang for our US bucks.